


The Fire is Coming

by Hornswaggler



Category: Helix
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-14
Updated: 2015-02-22
Packaged: 2018-01-15 16:43:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1311880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hornswaggler/pseuds/Hornswaggler
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ilaria High already had a creepy chemistry teacher, a singing janitor, and a principal that scares even some of the staff. Not like adding a kid on intense probation for a crime he won't talk about will make things that much weirder, right?</p><p>Helix high school AU - and it'll just get stranger from here. The tags will be updated accordingly as things progress.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I just…have no idea what to say about this. Kayla and I got joking around about a high school AU for Helix and the next thing I knew I was writing it. I honestly don’t know where it’s going or if it’ll go anywhere, but I’d at least like to introduce all of the main players. I’m on a Helix kick recently and I dunno how long it will last, but for now I keep getting really weird ideas.
> 
> So…I’m sorry. This is really weird and pretty dumb, but it entertained me for a few hours and I might end up continuing it over spring break.

_Don't know what we're doing_   
_Don't know what we've done_   
_But the fire is coming_   
_So I think we should run_

They always that this school would be better. Always one of those "It just takes some getting used to" speeches, a vague warning not to punch anyone on the first day, and then driving away quickly as if to avoid having to witness whatever might happen within the next few minutes.

It'll be better, you'll make friends, you just have to be nice... He did notice that they didn't seem to be trying quite so hard to get him to believe it this time around, but that wasn't too surprising. Being formally put in a group home for 'troubled' kids kind of made less likely that he would excel at making friends, and at this point they just seemed determined to keep him from being expelled or something.

In a way, Ilaria High would be different, if only for the fact that it was the first time Sergio had actually gone to high school at all - at least for any length of time. Technically he'd gone a few weeks of freshman year in the last town, but that hadn't lasted long at all. A few skipped days had turned into outright ditching, and by the time his current foster parents had thought to call a truant officer there had been other...problems. Those problems had led to him having a whole probation officer to himself, random check-ins, a set curfew, and a tracking anklet that managed to stay hidden under the cuff of his jeans only when he kept checking it. From what he could tell, his particular program didn't usually require a tracker, but after the fourth time getting out of handcuffs and locked doors he had been deemed a 'flight risk' or something and now had the thing on 24/7. Especially at school.

By this point he was well-accustomed to the counselor's office, though the process took a little longer this time as the man dealing with the paperwork - his name had been Harris or something similar - appeared to be new and was still figuring out the procedures. He apparently couldn't decide whether or not to stick to the professional attitude and didn't manage to hide some of his muttered complaints about the school board and the entire process of getting someone set up in the middle of the year. At the very least, the disgruntled annoyance didn't seem to be actually directed at Sergio himself, and Harris seemed to be polite enough when necessary.

"We have your record on file, of course," he said matter-of-factly, hunching over what seemed to be the hundredth form that day. "The teachers have been informed of the situation, but it won't be made public knowledge. You're free to tell the other students whatever you like."

"So I can make up a new story for each class?" The slightly weary look that was sent his way answered that question easily enough and Sergio scoffed, glancing up at the clock, fingers tapping restlessly on his folded arms. "Great. Anything else I have to sign my life away to before I can get out of here?"

"Oh, you've signed everything already. We're just waiting for your guide."

Hell, they still did that? He stifled a groan, glaring up at the ceiling for a moment before looking back at Harris. "I don't need a guide."

"It's the middle of the year, classes are already in full swing, and we're out of maps." The man seemed to almost be smirking as he looked up, shoving the paper in with the rest of the stack on his desk. "Anyway, she just walked in, and it'd be rude to leave a lady waiting, wouldn't it?"

Sergio glanced around back toward the office door and blinked once, barely managing to conceal a look of surprise. The girl standing there had to be the one Harris was referring to, simply because there was no one else even relatively student-aged in sight, but he wasn't even sure  _she_ was student-aged either. She was tiny - nearly a foot shorter than him - and didn't look like she could be any older than thirteen, at the most.

He followed Harris a little reluctantly, meeting the girl's eyes when they reached her and was again surprised when she held his stare evenly, almost like she was challenging him. The counselor was already attempting introductions.

"Sarah Jordan - Sergio Balleseros." At least he managed to get the name right. Sergio nodded curtly, taking the paper Harris handed him automatically. "Sarah's had most of the classes you're in before, so she'll know where they are. She can show you the rooms along with the general layout of the place." The girl still seemed to be sizing him up, which was getting almost disconcerting, and he met her stare for a moment again before nodding once more.

"Are we done, then?"

"So long as you check back in with me at the end of the day, yes." Harris hesitated a moment and then shrugged, pulling the door open for them. "Play nice, won't you?"

"No promises." Sergio rolled his eyes a little at the look that earned him and ducked around Sarah into the hallway. "Don't really have any other options, do I?"

He was striding down the hall before Harris could reply and his guide caught up a moment later, surprisingly quick for someone that much smaller than he was. She still didn't seem put off in the slightest and was peering down at what looked like a copy of his schedule.

"Spanish this hour, apparently," she said, and he was a little surprised at the confidence in her voice, as if she was regularly stuck with transfer students with rather hazy backgrounds. "I'll get you to each of the rooms and you should be able to catch the last part of that..."

"Look, Jordan," he cut in, "you get excused from class for this or something? Some professional tour guide?"

She stopped, looking up at him with a bit of a frown, and he noted that she put both hands on her hips instead of folding her arms like a lot of people would when challenged. "I show new students around quite a lot, yes. I tend to be a little less threatening."

 _Well that's an understatement._ Sergio scoffed, eyes rolling briefly. "Yeah, I'm sure. How old are you, exactly?"

"I'm fourteen." It sounded like she'd been asked that a lot, and he could see her shoulders square a little. "I'm also top of my class in most of the junior level AP courses, I've taken summer programs at Cornell, practically have early enrollment there, and my SAT score was in the 99 percentile." The smile she gave him looked almost patronizing. "But yeah, I look like a freshman. I'm doing my job and you're not ditching me, alright?"

Sergio found himself actually at a loss for words for a few moments, which wasn't common. She looked dead serious, and it definitely seemed like she'd gotten this sort of attitude before. A change of pace was in order, then. She wanted to feel in charge and wanted to be taken seriously. He could manage that. He'd always been good at getting on people's good side, if he thought it worth the effort.

"Alright, fair enough. Give me the VIP tour, then, Cornell." She raised an eyebrow at that, but it seemed that wasn't a battle worth fighting right now, and the girl turned again, starting off down the hall.

"Spanish is down this hall, there on the right. Your math room is pretty far off, so there won't be a whole lot of time to get there - might want to mention that to the teacher when you check in with him."

To her credit, she was a pretty good tour guide. Sergio was positive he could've found everything if left to his own devices, but it wasn't just the rooms Sarah ended up showing him. There would be random bits of information thrown in as well, the first coming when he had paused outside a door, trying to catch the strange sound that he had sworn had come from it just a moment before.

"Ignore it."

He glanced down at her tone and raised an eyebrow curiously. "What?"

"That's the janitor. You'll hear him sometimes - likes to sing when he's working. He's been working here something like 29 years, so there's tons of rumors. Some people think he just lives in the boiler room."

"That based on any evidence?"

Sarah snorted and seemed to almost smile. "This entire place is practically one big conspiracy theory, according to most. You're not going to get evidence for anything, but there are rumors for pretty much everything that happens." She looked up at him for a brief moment and shrugged. "You're new, so you'll probably become a walking conspiracy by tomorrow."

He glanced down unconsciously at his ankle, making sure it was still covered properly. "Sounds like a blast."

She told him about the nurse, who seemed to think that the cure for absolutely every ailment was an ice pack, the biology teacher, who had somehow acquired at least five class pets - including a monkey, though no one knew if that was technically legal or not - and the principal, who everyone but the staff seemed to have a healthy fear of. They were still out when the bell rang and Sergio instinctively got as close to the wall as he could manage while still looking slightly normal as the crowds all rushed past at varying speeds. Some spotted him and seemed to realize he wasn't one of their own, but no one actually tried to approach. Sarah was polite enough to wait until the initial swarm had passed before moving on, waving occasionally to people who called out to her.

The last stragglers were nearly gone when Sergio noticed the odd one out. He was tall, seemed to hunch into himself a little, and didn't actually look like he was going anywhere in particular. Their eyes met briefly when they passed and, once out of earshot, Sarah sighed.

"Thought you'd notice him. Saves having to point him out."

"He looks..."

"Twenty-something, right? Probably because he is. That's Peter. Technically he graduated about two years ago, and he's supposed to be going to the community college, but he's sort of...always hanging around here. His brother is a junior, but I think that excuse ran out a while ago."

This place was already weird as hell. Sergio grunted, glancing back once at Peter's retreating back and making a mental note to avoid him as much as possible.

He learned where the main hubs were - the main hallway, the quad out back, the front lawn that got packed at lunch - and found various quick exits and possible places to duck out of sight if necessary. Sarah brought him back to the math room at the end and for a moment it seemed like he would get away with being minimally social. She ended up stopping a few yards away, however, and looked him over again.

"You never said where you're from."

Of course that would be brought up. Sergio kept a blank expression, shrugging. "So?"

"Most people don't come in this late. Usually wait until the next semester, at the least. I'm assuming you just got into town, which means you have to have come from somewhere." She had that critical look again, examining him as if he was some sort of experiment gone awry. "Where'd you come from?"

The boy considered his options for a moment. Harris had said he could tell the students pretty much whatever he wanted, but he hadn't really expected to need an answer this soon. After a bit of thought he sighed, glancing around the hall and leaning a little closer.

"Honestly? I was...in prison." He could see her stiffen and decided to tack on quickly, "For killing a guy." The girl's eyes had widened and Sergio let that hang in the air for a few seconds before he threw on a wide smirk and straightened again. Sarah stared at him a moment longer before the look of surprise turned into a glare and she sighed impatiently at his quick burst of a laugh.

"Might as well tell someone the truth," she told him, "before the rumors are all people know."

He shrugged absently, idly straightening the leg of his jeans. "Let 'em wonder. I think I can find my way from here - thanks for the tour, Cornell." At least she didn't bother sticking around long after he had walked away. He let his ‘reasonably polite’ demeanor slip off and Sergio hesitated a little at the door to the room, glaring down at his ankle for a moment before going inside.

Not even an entire day here and he was already tempted to break his probation.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, so I'm still going at this. After Day 12 I needed something fluffy to console me, and finishing off this chapter helped.
> 
> It's still pure crack. If anyone actually speaks Portuguese, I apologize right now for Sergio's lack of tact - and if you want to provide better insults than Google can come up with, he'll probably be using more throughout the story.
> 
> Further down the rabbit hole!

According to his probation officer, Sergio had managed to 'settle in' fairly well in the few weeks he'd been there. Of course, he'd been told that every time he ended up in a new place. If settling in meant he had successfully gone to school the entire time and hadn't given the cops any reason to break down any doors, then apparently yes, he'd settled in. Of course there was still the constant temptation to just ditch the entire program and get out of town. That ran the risk of getting caught, but at some points that seemed like less trouble than handling public high school.

The plus side was, everyone still seemed to be somewhat wary of him and didn't go out of their way to try and make conversation. The downside was, Sarah had been right; he'd become the topic of at least twenty different rumors within days without even speaking to anyone. Apparently he was the first new face in a long time, and the stories had just gotten more extravagant the longer they circulated. There was already something about him biting off a live chicken's head, something involving him being a plant hybrid, and even some vague mention of aliens.

The various people who were kept up-to-date with everything seemed concerned about his lack of friends, but he'd dispelled some of those worries by mentioning Sarah - though, technically, he wasn't sure she fit under the classic definition of 'friend'. She'd shown him around the first day and, for lack of any better plans, he'd ended up sitting by her at lunch the day after. It had turned into a pretty good system, really. She didn't talk much and was constantly buried in some kind of studying, and he didn't feel the need to start up any conversations. Once she'd gone so far as to shove a paper at him and have him check as she shot of vocabulary definitions, and that had been the extent of their interactions. But hell, for him that was exceedingly friendly.

It wasn't that he _couldn't_ be friendly. It just took a little while to decided whether or not it would be worth the trouble. Sergio thought himself extremely good at making friends, no matter what his therapists had said, but he would be the first to admit that it was more along the lines of getting on their good sides than actual friendship. He could make people like him; given enough time he could watch people and figure out how to act in order to gain trust. At this point he just hadn't really bothered starting that process yet. That didn't mean he hadn't been watching the other students, though. It had been a few weeks and he had figured out the people he seemed to run into the most often. Some of them, the boy could already tell, might prove to be tricker than others.

Daniel, for example. Daniel would _definitely_ be tough.They didn't see each other often, but it was very obvious very quickly that Sergio had somehow gotten on his bad side. From what little interactions they'd had, it seemed like Daniel was the type of person who was accustomed to knowing everything that went on around him, and something new and unknown being thrown into the mix didn't sit well with him. The guy was apparently the son of Mr. Hatake, the chemistry teacher - adopted son, of course; if it wasn't glaringly obvious at first glance, the fact that Daniel's last name was still Aerov gave it away - and he was generally in the loop about pretty much anything. It wasn't too surprising, then, that he became determined to figure out the new kid.

It shouldn't have been surprising, for that matter, when he was the first one to notice the anklet.

So far Sergio had managed to keep it hidden. It fit under his jeans and the weather had been cold enough recently that they'd been allowed to wear sweats for PE. It wasn't like the anklet itself was some dark secret or something - he just didn't want to have to bother coming up with an excuse for it that would sit well with people.

"What's with the bracelet?" So, of course, it would be Daniel that brought it up. At lunch, of all times, in the middle of the damn cafeteria.

Sergio paused, forcing his hands not to tighten on his tray as he glanced over his shoulder. "The what?"

Daniel was looking at him critically and nodded toward the floor. "Thing on you ankle. Keep seeing it and you seem to be pretty determined to keep it hidden." _Hell..._

"It's nothing." If he could just sit down it might keep things civil. If he could get over by Sarah it was doubtful the other boy would bother with an interrogation.

"Looks a little like a tracker to me, Serge."

Dammit, why'd his voice have to carry so much? Sergio pulled in a breath and turned. Daniel towered over him, but he still managed a slightly scathing look upwards. "Should I be flattered that you're watching me that closely, _Dan_?"

"Why the hell would someone need to track you?" People were starting to stare now and Sergio felt his hands clenching. "You a fugitive or something?"

"And who would I be a fugitive from, huh?" he asked, his voice low. "It's none of your damn business."

"I think getting stuck in a school with a kid who has to wear a tracking bracelet is _definitely_ my business," Daniel snapped, and his own words were even louder now. "Seems like something they'd mention when you showed up, doesn't it? I don't think --"

In retrospect, punching him probably wasn't the best idea. Daniel was the school's star hockey player and was built like a brick wall. But hey, it _did_ get him to stop talking, at the very least, and that seemed like a definite plus at the time. It wasn't that Sergio couldn't fight; he'd been on the streets enough to know how to handle himself. He just wasn't known for picking his fights well.

He was the one who ended up needing a trip to the nurse once someone finally pulled them apart, though he was certain Daniel had at least gotten a split lip and a few pretty colorful bruises. It may not have been the best idea, but it had been satisfying, even if it meant a half dozen lectures to look forward to.

The nurse - Mr. Adrian, his nameplate said - was apparently deeply invested in a movie playing on his laptop screen when Sergio came in. The sound of the door closing had it paused immediately and Adrian did at least look slightly concerned when he looked up.

"Now _that's_ gotta sting," he muttered, turning quickly to a large freezer in one corner. "Don't worry, just keep it cold, it'll help."

Sergio had at least three ice packs shoved into his hands and he blinked down at them before relenting and holding one up to the eye that seemed to have gotten it the worst. It probably looked worse than it felt; his nose was still bleeding a little and the eye had already started to swell, but other than that it seemed to just be bruises.

"Told them, I'm fine," the boy said. "Nothing broken or anything."

"And I'm sure I should see the other guy, right?" Adrian cracked a grin and started circling him, peering at the various injuries. "Just gotta make sure it's nothing serious. Not feeling dizzy?"

"I'm fine."

"Need any more ice?"

"Pretty sure this is enough, thanks."

The man grunted, waving a hand at the ice packs as he turned back to his desk. "Keep it cold. Just need to sign you off, if you're not going to need anything else, and if I can find that form..." He sifted through stacks of paper on his desk and, after a moment, added over his shoulder, "So who'd you manage to piss off?" Sergio blinked at him and after the silence stretched out a little while Adrian glanced up with a grin. "You've gotta go talk to principal Sutton after this; most kids don't mind putting that off a bit."

Well, he had a point there. An official visit with the principal had been avoided thus far; he'd seen her in passing a few times, and those times had been enough to start dreading it a little. Sergio sighed, sinking into the chair on the other side of the desk and adjusting his ice pack a little.

"Daniel."

"Aerov?" Adrian made a fairly sympathetic noise, pulling out a form from the bottom of a pile. "That would explain it. He's not usually one to instigate, though; what'd he do?"

"Getting too damn nosy for his own good," he growled, making a mental note not to glare because it apparently pulled on some cut. The nurse nodded, starting to scrawl something down on the form.

"You'd probably have less problem with that if you actually told people something," he said. "Even if it isn't technically the truth, they'll just get more curious when you don't give them anything."

Sergio grunted and it went quiet again as Adrian wrote. His handwriting looked terrible from what little was visible, but apparently that didn't matter much with doctors of any sort. After a minute or two he finished with a very cramped signature and handed the paper over.

"The receptionist will file this wherever it's supposed to go. Good luck with Sutton."

"Thanks," the boy muttered, pushing himself to his feet again. He had to adjust the ice pack a little and put the other two on the desk. "I'll be good with just the one."

"You sure? Helps to -"

"Keep it cold, yeah. I'm fine." He moved toward the door just as Adrian swung his feet up onto the desk and adjusted the laptop screen a little. "Just out of curiosity - what're you watching?" That got another grin and the sound of rapid gunfire came from the speakers as the video was turned back on.

"28 Weeks Later. First one's better, but the sequel's still got zombies."

Sergio actually found himself grinning a little before going back into the main office and closing the door on some yells of 'code red'. The room was fairly quiet with just the receptionist tapping away at her keyboard and one young kid sitting on the bench against the wall.

He was _really_ young, actually. Dark blond hair, extremely thin and lanky...couldn't be older than thirteen, most likely. The kid had a book propped up on his knee but glanced up when Sergio passed him. Their eyes met for a brief moment and there was something a little disconcerting about the stare; something in his eyes seemed colder than they should. It broke off a second later and Sergio shrugged it off quickly.

He pushed the paper over to the woman behind the desk and she glanced up with a slightly raised eyebrow.

"Supposed to get this in before I talk to Sutton," he told her, and she seemed to take in his various cuts and bruises before shrugging once and pulling up some kind of form on the computer.

"It'll just be a minute. You can have a seat - I'll let her know you're here."

Sergio shot a glance back at the bench, quickly decided he'd rather stand than sit next to the creepy kid, and settled with leaning against the wall, adjusting the grip on his ice pack to try and keep his hand from going numb. Visits to the office were nothing new for him, but the lectures did get tiring after a while. He knew the basic face to put on for principals, though Sutton might be a little trickier. Manageable, though...

His train of thought was cut off when the door to her office opened. The girl that came out first looked about his age, though unfamiliar, which probably meant he hadn't seen her before because he tended to pride himself on remembering faces. She wasn't alone, though, and the one following her...

" _Filho da puta_ ," he growled, fists clenching. Daniel looked up with a frown and Sergio was a little surprised to see that he didn't seem any worse for wear - barely a mark on his face, and the one scratch didn't look like it was from their fight - but that only made him angrier. "So what, you get off scot free or something? Just because you're the teacher's kid?"

"Who're you...?"

"No, _puta que pariu esta merda_!" He was being stared at now, but considering the level of his voice that wasn't surprising. The girl next to Daniel had gone from looking confused to annoyed in a matter of seconds. "I don't care who threw the first punch - you can't just walk out like you didn't do anything, dammit."

"What the hell is your problem?" Sergio's attention jerked over to the girl just as she advanced on him. "We don't even _know_ you."

"Didn't stop him from giving me a black eye, did it, _Dan_?" he snapped, jabbing a finger at Daniel and glaring at him again. The other boy seemed to have changed clothes, too...this was getting strange. "Why are you sticking up for him?"

"Because he's my brother." Sergio blinked, managing to close his mouth before he started gaping for any length of time. _The hell?_ The girl was glaring at him, dark eyes holding his without wavering. "And last I checked his name was Toluk, not Dan."

The small office fell silent. The kid on the bench had been watching the whole exchange carefully and was now engrossed in his book again. After a few moments during which Sergio tried to figure out just exactly who or what was lying to him right now, Sutton stepped out of her office and the tension shifted suddenly as all three of them turned to look at her.

"I see you've got a knack for making friends, Sergio," she noted, glancing between them quickly. "Anana, Toluk, you're free to go. Bring the schedules back once they're finalized." The other two nodded and the girl - Anana, apparently - shot Sergio one last glare before they left. He sucked in a breath before turning back to Sutton, hoping none of the wariness was showing on his face. "Come on, then - seems we have some things to discuss."

His eye was throbbing a little as he followed the principal into her office, and Sergio resisted the urge to try and catch a glimpse of those two again before the door closed behind him. Apparently people were wrong: this school could get weirder.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I wrote most of this during Relay for Life, during which I was running on no sleep for twelve hours. As such, the quality may not be…quality. But I wanted to get it up before I started really working on my creative writing assignment which is due tomorrow.
> 
> I don’t know why the heck I’m still writing this thing, but apparently it entertains people, so why not?

His suspension was only two days, which was definitely better than he’d gotten before. Sergio wasn’t sure if Sutton took pity on him because he was the new kid, but it was unlikely given what little he could gather of the woman. Their meeting after the fight had only lasted about fifteen minutes, but within those fifteen minutes he could definitely gather why all of the students were so wary of her. It was an odd sort of intimidating, but intimidating nonetheless, and he wasn’t too eager to have to sit in a room alone with her again anytime soon.

As expected, the lectures came in full force. Mr. Redford had been first on the drive back to the house, and his wife had joined when they got in. The couple couldn’t really be called foster parents, given that the home was specifically for ‘troubled’ kids and they more ran the place than anything else, but they always tried to act like parental figures of some sort.  His probation officer was a little while after that, and Sergio could honestly say he preferred that conversation. Though he wasn’t overly fond of any of the people that were in charge of him, Otis was better than his previous officers. He seemed to get a good deal of amusement out of popping in for his random checks at the strangest times, but at least he actually had a sense of humor and didn’t constantly look like there was something smelly under his nose.

“On one hand, I’m impressed it took this long before I had to have this conversation,” Otis noted, half his attention on the paperwork he had propped up on one knee. Sergio had been in the middle of lunch when the man had shown up so they had ended up parked in the kitchen and he could hear at least one of the younger kids trying to be sneaky and listen at the door. “On the other…well, you know I’d definitely prefer  _not_ to have it at all.”

“We agree on that much, at least,” the boy muttered, keeping his eyes on his food. “I know the speech by heart. Don’t suppose you can just skip over it, slap my wrist, and move on, huh?”

“Not entirely. You know the consequences of this sort of thing, so I can leave that much out.” He flipped a page and glanced up. “You’re probably lucky that kid was bigger. It’d be worse off if you’d done more damage.”

Sergio snorted, one hand going to rub at his eye a little unconsciously. “Not for lack of trying.”

“I’d ask you didn’t try at all next time, hm? Starting fights like that, given your record…”

“I know my record, thanks.”

“Then you know how this looks.” Otis sat back, closing his folder and folding his arms. “Suspension is a good break, all things considered.” The kitchen fell silent and there was a quiet scuffling and shushing behind the door. “I’m hoping you’ll bring this up at therapy.”

Sergio swore under his breath, looking up from his plate with a frown. “I still gotta go to that?”

“Part of your program,” Otis reminded him. “Doesn’t really matter what you talk about, as long as you do some talking. How's it going?”

"She keeps trying to get me to call her Jane." He let out a huff of breath, eyes rolling. "Guess that's not out of the ordinary, but it gets old after the first week."

The therapy sessions had gotten old after his first one, really. He was good with people and very good at telling them what they wanted to hear. It was a little harder with trained therapists, but he figured he might be able to manage it. Still, it just didn't seem worth the effort. He'd have to go anyway, knowing this damn program, and it was more satisfying to let them know just how useless it was.

Otis considered him a moment before shrugging. "I can't tell you how to handle those - not my training. But I can make sure you keep going. The schedule still works out?"

"Well if you'd rather put it during Spanish, I wouldn't complain."

"Good schedule, then." The man glanced down at the file quickly. "Don't think there's any need for a test today..."

"Never any need for those."

"I think that's all I needed to cover." He gathered his papers and pushed himself to his feet. “I’ll save you the rest of the speech, but you know what it involves. No more fist fights, alright?”

The boy grunted, picking apart the crust of his sandwich idly. “I won’t if he doesn’t.”

“I guess that’s an improvement, at least. Not everybody’s out to get you, Serge. Remember that.” Sergio frowned a little at the nickname – he still wasn’t sure how he felt about that, but there wasn’t much he could do about it without sounding whiney. Otis waved one hand as he went to the door. “I’ll see you around.”

It was silent again for a few moments when the door swung shut, and he let himself sit there for a few moments. With a frustrated breath he finally stood, grabbing his plate and glass and taking them to the sink.

“I dunno what you were hoping to hear, Mark,” he called over his shoulder toward the door, and the not-so-quiet intake of breath that followed proved his assumption right, “but I hope it was boring as hell.”

There were just four of them in the house right now, and though there was one older boy he spent most of his time doing community service and online school work locked in his room. The other two were nine and eleven, and Mark as the youngest was notoriously the one more likely to try and listen in on conversations. The only good thing about being stuck in the house during school days was that the younger boys were always gone and it was actually relatively quiet.

And hell, two days suspension was lenient. Not like Otis had too much to complain about, and since Daniel had been suspended too, Sergio figured he hadn’t ended up too worse for wear. He had a decent number of extra chores simply because he was available to do them, but the house wasn't as bad when the younger boys were at school. It was actually a little disappointing when he had to go back himself.

The first thing he noticed was that apparently two days missing had managed to generate at least twenty new rumors. There were even more curious stares and mutters than before, and he pointedly made eye contact with anyone that stared too long until they looked away.

Apart from that, he was lucky enough to have relative peace for the first half of the day. It figured that it would be lunch that got weird for the second time in a row. Sergio noticed right away that something was off, and he paused on the other side of the room to stare at his usual table and the two people sitting there that he had not anticipated.

For a moment he considered just finding some other distant corner to eat, but then the stubborn part of him arose and decided that he was not giving up his place just because it might be a little odd. He squared his shoulders, one hand went to straighten the leg of his jeans, and he strode over, taking his usual seat across from Sarah who was currently engrossed in what looked like Chemistry notes.

He didn't let himself stare at the bulk of the boy sitting a few spots down from Sarah - and she looked even more tiny in comparison - but he did do a quick glance over. Sergio had considered the various possibilities that might explain his confusion in the office before. Maybe it had just been his eyes being weird after taking those hits or just too fast of a look or bad lighting...but now those were disproven.

This kid didn't look a little like Daniel Aerov. He looked  _exactly_ like him. If it weren't for the fact that there was no way Daniel would change up his routine to sit in the corner, Sergio would've been positive it was him. Now...hell, now all of this was just getting weirder.

The other girl - Anana, her name had been, right? - looked up at him almost skeptically, putting her fork down. "Great, you actually go here?"

"For a whole month now," he muttered. When he did let himself glance up to meet her eyes he was a little surprised by how dark they were. She had an extremely intense stare; he didn't feel the need to challenge it and looked back down at his tray. The other boy was watching him too, and after a few moments Sergio sighed, rubbing his face quickly. "Can I help you with something?"

"Thought you had some kind of problem with us," Anana said. "Seemed to have one with Toluk, at least."

"I thought he was someone else," he said immediately. "That's it. I'd sorta of had a bad day." 

"Seemed pretty damn convinced at the time."

This was way more complicated than it should be. Sarah hadn't looked up, but he could tell she was listening. She hadn't turned the page since he'd sat down, and there was none of the usual underlining or mouthing words. He realized suddenly that it made sense for these two to be sitting here, if they had been given the same tour guide he had. Just followed the same instincts and sat with the one person that had a familiar face.

"Everyone else seems just as convinced." It was Toluk that spoke then, and there was a slight accent to his words, the same as Anana's, and entirely strange to hear coming from him because dammit he looked  _just_ like Daniel. "Had at least three people ask why I wasn't at practice yesterday. A few of the teachers kept expecting me to have the work for class already."

 _Not exactly my problem, is it?_ It was tempting to say, but if Toluk hit as hard as his doppelgänger, he wasn't about to risk it. Sergio just shrugged, poking at the food and vaguely wondering how much of it could be classified as edible. After a moment Anana snorted.

"This place is weird. Dunno what everyone's seeing."  She was actually eating the lunch, which was a brave feat. It wasn't exactly poisonous, from what he could tell, but even so, it was cafeteria food. "Your Spanish is terrible, by the way."

That was completely off topic. Sergio looked over, brow furrowing. "What?"

"I don't know a ton, but I know enough to tell when it's bad. Your's is bad."

It took him a few moments to put together what she was talking about. The confrontation in the office came back suddenly and the boy snorted, eyes rolling.

"That's because it was Portuguese."

He could hear Toluk stifle a laugh and Anana raised an eyebrow before shrugging.

"See? Terrible Spanish."

Sergio shook his head, returning to his food. He could see Sarah smirking a little and her pen began moving again. It was quiet for a while and after a minute or two he heard Anana start to say something he didn't catch to her brother. She trailed off, though, and when he glanced up at her, he noticed her eyes locked on something across the room. Curiosity got the better of him and Sergio glanced over his shoulder and blinked.

Daniel had walked in. This was definitely Daniel, hockey team hoodie and everything, and a look of utter bafflement on his face as he stared at their table. The entire lunch room seemed to go silent for a few seconds as a good majority of the people apparently sensed the sudden tension and tried to find the source. There were a few glancing back and forth between the two boys and then, just as suddenly as he had come in, Daniel turned on his heel and strode back into the hallway.

The silence continued for a bit longer and then the chatter erupted again. Sergio turned back just in time to see Anana exchange a baffled look with her brother 

"Now those are twins if I ever saw them." All three of them looked at Sarah quickly, who was packing away her bag. She looked a little satisfied and nodded at Toluk quickly. "Can't tell you what to make of that, but it's worth investigating, I'd say."

She walked away and the others sat in silence for a few moments. Anana stared at her brother, then at the door Daniel had gone through, then back. When she did actually speak it was quiet, just one word, and seemed to carry all hell of a lot more weight than most words of that length did.

"Miksa...?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much to say with this one, except I’m still baffled that I can keep cranking these chapters out.
> 
> It’s still fairly stupid and that probably won’t change. Sorry-not-sorry.
> 
> I miss Helix.

Daniel seemed determined to avoid all of them the rest of the day, and the day after that. He was still there – Sergio saw him just as frequently in the hallways between classes – but every time Anana or Toluk were nearby Daniel would set his jaw, stare directly ahead, and somehow part the crowds to get out of the line of sight quickly. Anana seemed determined to pin him down eventually, but she had a harder time navigating the after-bell rush, and the boy didn’t show up in the lunch room.

Sergio had decided immediately to stay out of the whole ordeal. He’d unconsciously adopted something he’d heard Ramsay, the other younger boy in the house, use, and actually found himself muttering “Not my circus, not my monkeys,” once after Daniel had given him an odd glare. He didn’t know these people, so far he didn’t really care to, and they could handle their own weird problems themselves.

It was a little harder to manage once it became clear that the entire damn school was curious about it. Unfortunately for them, no one was brave enough to ask Daniel about it at this point, and they were even more afraid to mention it to Mr. Hatake. With both Daniel and Toluk now around regularly, though, it was impossible not to notice; they weren’t just similar, they were identical. The only real way of telling them apart was figuring out that Toluk’s hair was slightly longer and lighter, and he didn’t seem to be scowling nearly as much.

But that didn’t matter. Let the rest of the school have their little mystery and their talk of cloning, and Sergio could focus on actual problems.

Like the fact that he apparently needed an extra-curricular.

“I need a  _what?_ ”

“You’re not going deaf, last I checked – do we need to get that looked at?”

Otis at least had the decency to meet him in the office rather than barging into a classroom like he had legal permission to do. It had apparently just started as a check-in until he got talking to the counselor and they had come to the conclusion that Sergio was missing a ‘vital’ part of education. According to Harris, they weren’t technically mandatory, but since many of the clubs had ways to get community service hours which were a requirement for graduation, everyone tended to end up in one at some point.

“Isn’t it impressive enough that I’m here in the first place?” Sergio pointed out. “Now you want me to  _stay_ here even after school’s out?”

“As opposed to what? Going straight home and locking yourself in your room?” Otis grinned, shaking his head. “These things look good on resumes and you’ll actually meet some people.”

“I know people,” the boy defended immediately.

“Right, I’ve heard – that girl from the first day? What’s her last name?”

Sergio hesitated, frowning, because dammit he  _did_ know it, but he’d been calling her Cornell for so long now that it had left his short-term memory. Otis seemed to take that as an answer.

“I’m making it mandatory; you’re joining a club.” He ignored the continued protests and grabbed his ubiquitous file, making some note on the front page. “I don’t care which one it is, but have Mr. Harris sign off when you get something worked out and we’ll sort the schedule from there.”

The man got up, heading for the door and Sergio groaned, running a hand over his face and attempting one last-ditch effort.

“Can’t I just do extra drug tests or something?”

Otis glanced over his shoulder with a bit of a smirk and gave a rather pointed eye roll.

“I’ll see ya around, Serge.”

Harris already had the list ready, though it wasn’t much of a list to begin with. Sergio sat down, looked at the paper briefly, and then back up with a raised eyebrow.

“You can’t tell me this is it.”

Harris shrugged, leaning back in his chair. “That’s the unfortunate thing with coming into the semester so late; most groups have a deadline to join or are filled up already. These two are what was left.”

Two of them. Mandatory after-school clubs and there were a total of two to pick from. This was going to be hell. Sergio looked back down with a heavy sigh and spent a few moments entertaining the idea of a dramatic escape before deciding that would be too much effort.

“Thought these guys did competitions and all that,” he pointed out. “Little late to jump in with that, isn’t it?”

“They just wrapped up their district level. There’s still regionals, state, and then nationals if anyone qualifies. Plenty of time to get situated.”

He stared at the paper a little while longer and barely restrained a colorful string of words.

“So I’ve got the choice of fashion club or…FFA?”

"Seems like it."

Hell, this is why public school sucked.

* * *

 

It took a little effort to get him actually signed up for FFA. Apparently a lot of the kids involved took the Ag classes as well, though it wasn't technically required. Sergio had to meet with the adviser, get a run-down of the schedules, get a few things signed by Mr. Redford and Otis, and then get his own schedule altered to fit the after-school events.

There were meetings just twice a week and he'd been told to start coming the next week. In the meantime he was left with the slight dread of knowing he was going to be forced to socialize. So far he’d managed to get the reputation as a determined loner, talking only when necessary and getting his work done quickly. His classes were all sophomore level, but he was pushing through them and Harris had noted that he might be able to test out a few classes before the next semester and still graduate on time.

The only people Sergio found himself actually talking to on occasion – and grudgingly, at that – were the ones at lunch. He was never really one to initiate any conversations, but Anana and Toluk had apparently claimed their initial spots for the time being, and sometimes he had a question shot at him without warning. He wasn’t entirely opposed to talking to Sarah a little, mostly because she wasn’t nosy about much of anything. The questions were usually limited to classes and homework, something he could actually manage without getting the urge to just duck out of the conversation.

When it came to his actual classes, though, he spoke to the teachers and that was it. It was a legitimate shock, then, when Anana planted herself in the seat next to him before Biology started – he hadn’t even known she was in this class – and started talking without preamble.

“Managed to actually talk to Daniel. Not like it did much good.”

Sergio frowned, glancing around quickly to double check that she wasn’t addressing someone else. “What?”

“Daniel,” Anana repeated, looking over at him with a raised eyebrow. “Y’know, the guy that gave you that black eye.”

He resisted the urge to rub at it – at least it wasn’t nearly as bad as the day right after the fight – and shook his head. “Yeah, I know who he is. Why are you telling me?”

“Why not? You seem to be one of the only people here that doesn’t hero-worship him.” She let out a frustrated breath and started digging through her bag. “Barely let me get a word in edgewise, but apparently I’ve “made some mistake” or something. As if he can’t see it…” Her book fell onto the desk with a little more force than necessary and a few people glanced over curiously before going back to their regular conversations.

Sergio hesitated before determining that he was apparently stuck in this conversation, whatever it was. Hell knew why she’d decided to unload this onto him, but he could manage people talking at him if it meant he didn’t have to contribute anything himself. “See what, exactly?”

“Oh come on, literally everyone sees it. It’s –“ Anana cut off as the teacher, Ms. Boyle, came in, her monkey perched on her shoulder as usual, then continued with her voice lower. “They’re identical and it’s impossible not to notice, but according to him it isn’t important and not worth all the questions.”

“So why is it important?” he muttered. The girl stared at him for a few moments, and he glanced up. She seemed to be evaluating him for something, as if trying to judge whether or not he should get that answer. For a brief moment he was struck again by just how dark her eyes were before she looked down again, just as Ms. Boyle flipped on the projector.

“Because Toluk had a twin,” she said, even quieter as most of the conversations around them faded off. “Vanished when we were kids and until a few days ago, we assumed he was dead.”

He didn’t get much time to process that, as they got the usual call for quiet and started right in on the lesson about fish of some kind. Anana didn’t so much as glance at him the rest of class and he wondered if she regretting sharing that much with a guy she barely knew and didn’t necessarily get along with. The boy was good at pushing things like that out of his mind, though, and by the time the bell rang he was back in his usual routine of getting up and leaving immediately.

Unfortunately, Anana seemed determined to break his routines today and somehow caught up a few steps outside of the door. Sergio resisted the urge to groan and focused on weaving through the usual crowds.

“I don’t suppose he’d listen to you any more than he does me, huh?” she asked, and he frowned again.

“Daniel? Considering I punched him in the face, I doubt it. Besides,” he gave her a rather pointed look, adjusting the grip on his bag, “I don’t get involved with family issues.”

“I don’t exactly know people here,” she said, shooting a quick glare up at him. “I am going to figure this out, though. Just might be easier with a little help.”

“I’m not the helpful type.”

“No shit.” Anana stopped at an intersection of hallways and, mostly on instinct, Sergio did the same. “You have siblings, Sergio?”

He didn’t ask how she knew his name; he hadn’t exactly introduced himself, but Sarah had probably mentioned it at some point. For a brief moment he considered the other three boys at the house and shook his head quickly. “No, I don’t.”

“Well then take my word for it – we might fight for days on end, but I’d do anything to protect my little brother. All this? Finding out his dead twin isn’t as dead as we’d thought? That needs figuring out.” She glanced over at a group that nearly knocked into them and sighed. “Do whatever you want, but it’d be easier with help. I gotta get to math.”

Anana strode away without another word, and it took Sergio a few moments to move again, heading to English in the opposite direction. This time it was harder to actually get the thoughts out of his head, and for one laughable moment he considered the fact that he might actual have material to tell his therapist at his appointment after school. That was dismissed immediately of course.

After the final bell rung he ended up meeting Sarah in the hall, as happened on occasion. Her last class was a door or two down and they sometimes walked out together, even if usually it was without a word being spoken. It seemed to help her somewhat, since Sergio had a tendency to part the crowds a little which made it a lot easier for her to get through when she stuck close to him. This time, though, he surprised even himself in being the first to say something.

“They are twins.” Sarah glanced up at him curiously and he shook his head, quickly elaborating. “Daniel and Toluk. Anana said they’re…Toluk had a twin before.”

“You actually had a conversation without me?”

He shot her a glare and shrugged his backpack up a little higher on his shoulders. “That’s not the point. Daniel’s being an idiot about it and she…wants me to help investigate it or something.”

She considered this a moment before shrugging one shoulder. “And? I’d want to know if I were them. How many people lose a sibling and then have them reappear like this?”

“So what, you’re saying I should get pulled into this mess?”

“No – I’m just saying it makes sense. Anana knows you, sort of. A little better than other people, since you see each other every day.”

“I’m not really the type people gravitate to when they need something.” Not when that something was legal, anyway. He’d been sought after back in LA for some less-than-legal favors.

Sarah snorted lightly as they stepped outside and she stopped at the bottom of the steps. “People tend to trust a pretty face. It’s instinct.” At his fairly baffled look she waved one hand absently. “Just calling it like I see it. Do whatever you want, but I gotta say, it’s a hell of a lot to deal with; moving that far and then having this pop up…I don’t envy them.”

They fell silent and he turned the words over a few times. When he looked back at the younger girl she was staring across the yard, and it didn’t actually take following the gaze to know who was on the other end of it. Alan Farragut was at least a year older than him and Sergio never actually saw him around much, but he’d seen Sarah’s face often enough when he _was_ around to know exactly what was going on there. Alan was talking to Julia at the moment, and though he couldn’t hear the words it was obvious that the conversation was rather tense.

“So what are they this week?” he asked, and that got Sarah to snort again.

“According to Facebook? Single, I think. Probably change by Friday.”

“Probably.” Sergio glanced down at his watch and swore quietly. “I gotta catch the bus – got an appointment across town.”

“Something for probation?” She returned his surprised look with a fairly patronizing one, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, before headed toward the school bus lot. “See you tomorrow.”

It figured she would’ve put it together, Sergio realized as he started for the city bus stop. He had no real intention of telling anyone, but it shouldn’t be surprising Sarah had figured it out. That girl was way too smart for her own good.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little shorter, this chapter. Mostly wanted to get the whole FFA thing established and then the second part was mostly just fun. I'm getting flashbacks to my own FFA days writing this and it makes me happy.
> 
> I dunno how I can crank out a chapter of this in a day but I can't manage to get anything of House Call written.
> 
> Anyway, sorry for the utter crack. Hope you're still entertained!

He was apprehensive for a few reasons staying after school the next week. There had been a routine for long enough that it had gotten comfortable and now, suddenly not getting on the bus straight away, threw off everything. Sergio had been rather tempted to catch it anyway, claim that he'd forgotten or something, but that excuse wouldn't last forever and it seemed like it would be easier to just get it over with.

Sarah at least seemed a little sympathetic. A little. She hadn't mentioned his probation again yet, which he was grateful for, and held back the smirk he knew was brewing when she went to catch her usual bus. Sergio put that out of his mind and made the trek across campus to the Ag building - one he had seen but never been inside of.

It was already busy when he got in. A lot of the people he recognized more by sight than anything else. A kid from his Spanish class - his name was Haven or something similar - was pulling bags out of a closet. He saw Julia Walker sitting at a table with a few other girls that weren't familiar. At least two guys from PE were chatting as they flipped through thick binders. No one actually seemed to have noticed him yet, which was preferable. Sergio realized after a moment that he had stopped in the doorway and pulled in a breath before actually going into the room.

The place was bigger than expected This part was obviously just a classroom, but he could see another door that led into what looked to be some kind of small office, and a door there that probably opened into the shop. He'd heard from people who actually took the classes that there was a good deal of woodwork involved in the first semester, and welding later on, so it would make sense to have a good-sized facility to manage all of that in. Still, he couldn't help but be a little impressed.

"Ah, new kid, right?" Sergio started a little at the voice behind him and looked around. He saw the monkey first, and then focused on its owner. Ms. Boyle had apparently changed sometime between Biology and now into something a decent bit less formal and far more stained. The monkey, whose name was apparently Bryce and whose legality was still questionable, was examining an apple core as if willing it to refill itself. Ms. Boyle was looking over something on a clipboard and it took a few seconds for her to look back up. "Angela - Mrs. Reagan - is working with a team already, so I'm going to get you started."

"Started with what, exactly?" It took him a few moments to remember why she was here in the first place. When he'd talked to Reagan before, the club's advisor, she'd mentioned having a few teachers or parents come in to help with team practices. If they had any sort of animal-related events, it'd make sense to call in the Biology teacher.

"Depends on where you end up, I suppose." Ms. Boyle flipped the paper over and then did a look-over of the room. "Some teams have limits, most don't. Apparently you're to just dive right in and we'll work out logistics like the uniform order later. If I remember correctly there was someone... _Oi!_ " Her voice rose a few levels within a split second and Sergio was slightly relieved to see he wasn't the only one in the room who jumped. "There was someone down a member - who was that?"

A hand flew up immediately and the rest of Julia Walker followed with it. "We're down to three since Sam moved. Just need one more before regionals."

"Perfect." Ms. Boyle nodded briskly toward the three girls, reaching up to scratch Bryce's head as he climbed to her other shoulder. "Start out with them. Try it out, get a feel for the place, and you can look into other teams later if any seem interesting. Julia will explain semantics."

Sergio found himself glancing between the teacher and the table a few times before realizing that he was supposed to be moving. His grip on his bag's strap tightened instinctively when he crossed the room and sank into the open chair. Three sets of eyes were leveled on him immediately and, once again, he found himself briefly considering a dramatic escape from the city.

"You're that kid who punched Daniel, aren't you?" one of the girls asked, and he looked up with what he hoped was a fairly patronizing expression. The remnants of the black eye seemed to answer that well enough and she snorted, glancing around quickly before leaning forward, her tone hushed. "That took some balls."

"Haley," Julia cut in, almost scolding as the third girl barely contained a snort, "you can't flirt with every single new person - that's how we scared off the last guy." She sat back down and gave Sergio a considering look. "Julia," a quick gesture to herself, and then to the other girls in succession, "Haley, and Anna. You?"

"I assumed everyone knew me - I'm the plant hybrid kid or something, aren't I?" That was met with blank looks and the boy let out a breath. "Sergio."

"Good." Julia reached under her chair and pulled out a binder - just as thick as the ones he'd seen earlier - and quickly flipped it to a page near the beginning. A pen had somehow appeared in her hand and was hovering expectantly. "Last name?"

"Balleseros." He spelled it out for her quickly when she hesitated, vaguely wondering when he had last given his full name to someone less than twenty years older than him.

"Good." She settled back in her chair, arms folding. "Well, welcome to the team, Sergio. We barely scraped our way into regionals, but the judges were pretty biased anyway, so I'm not too worried. You'll just have to do a little catch-up on the basics and some of the identification, and we need the review anyway so that can be fit in easily."

"Hang on, I still don't..." Sergio glanced around the group and down at the binder, hoping to find some clue. "What team, exactly? No one told me what I was joining."

Julia glanced over at Anna quickly who grinned, reaching under the table and hauling up some large bag. Just in the side pockets he could quickly spot pliers, a spool of thin green wire, and some kind of knife. It looked fairly dangerous as a whole.

"Floriculture," Anna informed him briskly. "We need four to a team and according to Ms. Boyle, you're our man."

"Non-negotiable," Julia added. "We're not getting to regionals without four and we need to _at least_ get to state level for once. Now," she turned her attention back to the massive binder, turning a few more pages in, "we can get the basics out of the way today."

It took a good deal of self-control to not just bury his head in his hands. Of course it would be flowers. Out of all of the different events Mrs. Reagan had mentioned, of course he got dragged into flowers...

* * *

"Doesn't seem like it'd be that bad," Mr. Redford told him. "No one knows how flower arrangements are supposed to look, as long as there are flowers in them."

"The judges know, apparently." Sergio stabbed a piece of broccoli a little harder than necessary, barely noticing what he was actually eating as he went on. "And it's not just the arrangements - that's just the stuff you have to have done _before_ you get to the competition. The rest - hang on." He could see the Redfords exchange a glance before he started rifling through the bag at his feet. The stack of papers Julia had given him was already creased and he flattened it out quickly before flipping to a random page and holding it out. "You know what this plant is?"

The man peered at it a few moments and Ramsay craned his neck around to try and see.

"A pinecone!" Mark chimed in suddenly, nearly losing his entire mouthful of food in the process.

"You didn't even see it, stupid," Ramsay snapped back. "And pinecones are seeds, not plants."

"Seeds count as plants!"

"Boys." Mr. Redford was surprisingly good at silencing a table with one word, and he glanced between the two younger kids quickly. "Mark, chew. Ramsay, tone. Anyway," he looked back at the picture and shrugged. "Seems like a tree to me."

"Pine tree, actually," his wife added, shooting a look at Mark quickly to quell his shout of satisfaction.

" _Technically_ , to get it right you need..." Sergio turned the page over quickly and scoffed. "Western White pine, _pinus monticola_. You gotta know that. You gotta know what specific _breed_ of pine tree that is. And they've got hundreds of these."

"Well challenges are good," Mrs. Redford noted. "And you'll be meeting people. Socializing is a nice change."

"Already get enough mandatory socializing as it is," he muttered. "They just call it public school. Dunno why I couldn't have done it online like Donny's doing."

The eldest boy looked up briefly at his name before his attention returned to his plate as usual. Donny very rarely said anything past the initial "how was your day" part of meals. Of course, normally Sergio didn't either. Most dinners consisted of Mark and Ramsay firing back and forth with the occasional warning to be polite. Today was odd in that he'd actually initiating a conversation, and he could tell the Redfords had noticed even if they didn't bring it up specifically.

"Donny just had a few specific credits to get through," Mr. Redford pointed out. "Not worth going to Ilaria for just a class or two. You've still got a couple years."

"Mandatory socializing." Sergio shoved his papers back into the bag and sighed. "They've got these competitions, too, couple hours away. I didn't know I was even allowed to travel."

"School sanctioned, approved by Otis beforehand, with proper supervision. Doesn't seem to be a problem."

"Don't suppose you can just forbid me to go."

"Afraid not." It went relatively quiet around the table for a minute or two - a real feat, given the two younger boys - but apparently Mr. Redford was determined to keep a conversation going. "You make up with that Daniel kid?"

Sergio snorted, a little louder than he'd intended, sending a piece of chicken launching off the side of the plate as his attempted stab missed its target. " _Babaca..._ "

"What was that?"

"No, he's been avoiding me." For more than one reason now, too, but that didn't need to be brought up. "Don't worry, Sarah's been restraining me from going on any more murderous rampages." The look that got told him the sarcasm wasn't appreciated, but Ramsay cut in before any comment could be made.

"Who's Sarah? Does Serge have a girlfriend?" He drew the last word out and somehow managed not to flinch under the glare.

"I swear, I'll duct tape you to the ceiling."

"Can you actually do that?" Mark asked quickly. "That sounds awesome!"

"You offering to be a guinea pig?"

"Boys." It fell quiet again and managed to stay that way long enough for Sergio to finish his dinner and excuse himself, retreating to his room even before Donny did.

The room itself was still pretty bare. He'd gotten into the habit very early on of keeping as few possessions as possible; moving around didn't allow for sentimentality, and even now in an actual house he still had a few bags of clothes that the Redfords had bought sitting unopened in the closet.

Don't get attached, don't get invested, don't owe any favors.

Sergio tossed his bag onto the bed and then followed it, staring up at the ceiling for a few minutes. He could hear Mark and Ramsay downstairs arguing over the dishes as was customary when it was their night to clean up.

It took a little while for him to consider actually doing any work. Green eyes considered the bag critically before he gave a slightly resigned sigh and pulled the stack of papers out again, turning it back to the first picture. Bird of paradise, _strelitzia reginae._

_Stupid plants..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't usually put ending notes, but I just want to encourage you to go and GoogleImage search FFA Floriculture teams. Take in those pictures. Take in that official dress. Use your best imagination to put Sergio on one of those teams in that official dress surrounded by flowers.
> 
> And just imagine the scowl.
> 
> That is all.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still emotionally distressed from Day 6.
> 
> This helped some.
> 
> It's still super weird I'm sorry, but we got a new character!

There were police at school the next day. None of the flashing lights or caution tape or anything - in fact, if he hadn't had a good deal of experience with police he might not have even noticed them to begin with. He did, though, and the unmarked cars were the first things he saw stepping off the bus in the morning. Sergio figured the immediate instinct to leave - and quickly - was residual habit and he managed to get into the building without looking like he was ready to make a quick escape.

He wracked his mind for any reason there might be cops, anything he might have done to breach his probation or just piss someone off. Granted the latter happened pretty often whether he tried or not, but they didn't usually arrest him for that. He'd actually been pretty damn well behaved recently - kept to curfew, put up with all the checks, didn't go outside his radius...and when Otis came he came alone.

Once there was a pause in the flow of incoming students, Sergio paused for a moment in the hall and knelt down. He made some effort to make checking the anklet look like tying his shoes, but it probably wasn't too convincing. The small light was still on, and it definitely looked like it was working as it always had, so it wasn't like they'd have come for that. As much as he would never admit it out loud, the routine here had gotten comfortable, and he wasn't eager to be shipped off again somewhere else.

_Casual. Didn't do anything wrong, no reason to be jumpy._

He didn't like cops. But still, he could act normal despite knowing they were around. Sergio made it to his locker without incident and started sorting through books while keeping an eye on the hallway. He was more and more convinced that, whatever they were here for, it wasn't him. His schedule was well-known, and they'd have confronted him already if he was the target. Once that was an established thought, though, the curiosity set in.

He was halfway to his first class before deciding to act on that curiosity. An abrupt 180 in the middle of the hall would've looked strange, and an excuse would be needed eventually. Sergio slowed just enough so that the flow of the crowd just parted around him as he rolled a few ideas around. It was pretty simple to set on one; excuses were something of his specialty.

"Hey, uh...Haven." It was a bit of a relief when the boy addressed turned - at least he got the name right - and Sergio pulled on a bit of a grimace. "I've gotta run to the nurse. You mind telling Mr. Anderson?"

Haven looked a little startled that the weird new kid was talking to him, but he nodded jerkily and Sergio was striding off toward the office a second later. He could drop by the nurse, get an Advil or something, and get a quick look at what was going on. Everything happened in the office. If there were cops at the school, that's where they'd be.

He half expected to see guards or something outside the door. There were none, logically, and the secretary barely looked up when he went in. He didn't expect to see Anana sitting on the bench outside of Sutton's office. She was watching the opposite wall but he could tell she'd noticed him. Sergio hesitated, glancing over at Adrian's door before he went to sit on the other end of the bench, unconsciously straightening the leg of his jeans.

"You get in a fight already?" she asked, and he frowned a little. She still wasn't looking at him and he turned away himself after a moment.

"Here for the nurse."

"Right." Anana scoffed lightly. "Don't think you gotta take a number. He's not exactly busy."

Sergio ignored that, arms folding as he leaned back against the wall. "Saw the cops were here."

"Yep."

Well this was getting nowhere. He wasn't entirely sure how long he could get away with this particular excuse. The blunt approach seemed quicker. "Any idea why the cops are here?"

Anana shot him a look - the same calculating look he'd seen a few times before - before she leaned back as well and turned to watch the ceiling. "They're talking to Toluk. Gonna bring Miksa and Hatake in at some point."

"Why?"

"Thought you didn't get involved in family issues." Her tone sounded almost bitter and when he glanced over she was still pointedly looking away. After a pause she sighed softly and shook her head. "My little brother was stolen. They looked, didn't find him, presumed him dead. Now he turns up out of nowhere fourteen years later, so yeah, we're gonna get the cops involved."

Well that made sense, in a way. Not like he would ever willingly get cops involved with anything, but it made sense. "So Daniel's still being..."

"An uncooperative ass about it? Yeah." Anana gave a weak laugh, running a hand through her hair. Sergio realized at that point that she didn't just look frustrated - she looked downright exhausted. It was hidden pretty well but he'd seen enough of her normally and read people well enough to tell the difference. "You'd think that'd just be even more proof they're related, really, but he's been..." She trailed off and shot him an odd look. "Dunno why I'm telling  _you_ this. We're handling it. You can keep on avoiding everyone, like you're good at."

He tried to think of some way to respond to that with little success. Sutton's door opening made both of them start a little and Sergio couldn't help but tense when a detective shot him a look. Anana stood, grabbing her bag off the floor. She had taken a step toward the door before pausing and turning enough to give him another considering glance-over.

"Anyway, you're not exactly the helpful type, right?"

The detective was saying something to her quietly when she followed him back into the office, and Sergio could see a decent number of other people already in there before the door closed. He was left in the quiet and it took the secretary giving him a questioning look to get him moving again. He stood and crossed the room to Adrian's door, knocking twice before stepping inside.

Adrian barely glanced up and raised one finger, his eyes on his laptop. Sergio shut the door behind him and managed to catch a few lines of whatever was on this time -  _"...go to the Winchester, have a nice cold pint, and wait for all of this to blow over."_  The sound shut off suddenly and the man leaned back in his chair.

"Hey, uh...Sergio, wasn't it?" That got a quick nod in reply and Adrian grunted. "What's the problem?"

This was the only problematic part of his excuse. He managed to keep from shifting around - that just looked even more guilty - and shrugged once. "Just a headache."

The look he got then was scrutinizing and Adrian rolled his eyes. "Uh huh. Got a test first hour or somethin'?"

"No, I was..." Whatever he said at this point wouldn't be convincing in the slightest, and he sighed. "Just wanted to see what the cops were here for."

"See, honesty." The man wagged an approving finger at him and leaned forward on the desk. "I like that. Saw them come in myself - have to say, I expected it a lot earlier."

"Earlier?"

"Well yeah, they..." He hesitated, glancing toward the door with a frown. "Probably shouldn't be spreading it around, to be honest."

Sergio snorted, arms folding. "Who am I going to tell?"

Adrian considered that, then grunted. "Ah, hell with it, you're here already, and this place gets dull." He leaned a little closer, shooting another furtive look at the door. "Moment those two got here, knew there was gonna be something going on. Thought there had been some mix-up in the filing, that someone had put Daniel's picture in by accident. No problem there, y'know, just fix it once the kid gets here."

"Didn't work out that way," Sergio noted, and Adrian snorted.

"Not so much. Now we've got these detectives and cops and they're all eyeing Hiroshi because he adopted this kid years ago only to have his actual family show up."

"They thought he was dead." Sergio looked back at the door, remembering the exhaustion in Anana's face, the sort of bitter resignation. "She was telling me, they had a search but nothing happened and they just presumed him dead."

"It's a bizarre situation, to be sure. I like Hiroshi; he's a good enough guy, if a little..." Adrian pulled a face, wiggling one hand, "eccentric, maybe. But it's gonna be rough on everybody involved."

"What are they gonna do about it?"

"Hell, kid, I'm a school nurse - I don't know any of this legal crap." The sound of a door closing outside made them both pause and after a few beats of silence the man gave a noncommittal shrug. "All I know is I'm stayin' as far out of it as I can. Don't need any more problems on this end." Adrian glanced him over again briefly. "You gonna ask what you should do about it?"

That got a confused frown and Sergio shook his head. "Wasn't exactly planning on it, no."

"Good." Adrian leaned back in his chair again, arms folding. "I don't give great advice. Ought to get back to class - it'll start looking suspicious, staying this long for a headache."

He had a point there, anyway. Sergio sighed, standing again and slinging his bag over his shoulder, one hand tugging the leg of his jeans down. "Right. Well thanks for the...whatever."

"Life-saving medical help." The man tapped at his laptop's keyboard and the voices in the movie picked back up again. "Any time. Except, y'know, before eight or after five."

The closing door hadn’t been Sutton’s office – it didn’t look like anyone else had come in and he could still hear the murmur of voices on the other side. The only other option was Harris’s office, and that was pretty well confirmed when he spotted the counselor behind the desk and another boy hunched over it filling out some form that looked strikingly similar to the ones Sergio had dealt with when he first came.

He intended to slip out quietly. Not like there would be too many questions coming out of the nurse’s office, but Sergio would prefer to avoid any human interactions he could, especially with a guy who he was pretty sure had his probation officer on speed dial.

It was just his luck, of course, that that didn’t work.

“Sergio – good timing. Could you come here for sec?” Sergio stopped, took a moment to brace himself, and then turned on his heel and strode back. The new kid was just finishing the bottom few lines of the paper and Harris glanced up at the clock quickly. “You’ve got Spanish now, right? Mr. Anderson’s class?”

At least he wasn’t asking why he wasn’t currently _in_ Spanish. “Guess so, yeah.”

“Perfect. As long as you’re heading that way, you can take him along – that’s his first class too.”

 _Dammit._ Sergio fought the urge to grimace, instead managing a slightly questioning look at Harris while pointedly ignoring the new kid. “Thought it was Cornell’s jobs to give the tours.”

“ _Sarah_ has a test.” Of course she did. “And you’re here anyway.” Harris offered a rather tired smile, arms folding. “I’m not asking you to be friendly. Just show him the room.”

It took some effort to manage an eye-roll that would express exactly how inconveniencing this all was, and then Sergio gave a grunted, “Fine,” and spun on his heel, jerking his head toward the door. “C’mon, then.”

The kid followed without question, crumpling the papers he held into his backpack. He seemed to be sizing Sergio up, so the favor was returned. About the same height, a mop of unruly brown hair, and skin tanned enough that it was obvious he was from somewhere with a lot of sun. He didn’t seem too eager to talk and likely wasn’t the type for conflict – at least he didn’t look like the type of guys that Sergio _knew_ were always up for conflict.

“So what’s your deal?” Sergio asked after a moment. “This place hadn’t met its quota for transfers or something?”

The smirk he got in return was a little surprising, and there was an immediate attempt at a reassessment as the new kid held out a hand. “Kyle. Kyle Sommer. You got a name?”

His accent was relatively pronounced, and Sergio frowned. “You from Texas or something?”

“Got a good ear.” Hell, this guy was cheerful. “Born and raised, yeah.” His hand dropped again, though he didn’t look too disappointed. “What about you? Gotta have a name, right?”

There was some hesitation, but it wasn’t like everyone around here didn’t know his name already anyway. Not exactly a secret. “Sergio.”

“Sergio,” Kyle repeated, as if mulling it over. He nodded briskly and grinned, glancing around the hall. “Got any brilliant tips about this place, Serge?”

“Don’t call me that,” he said automatically, and then let out a scoff. “I haven’t been here much longer than you, Texas. Not the best guy to ask.”

“Pity. Seems like you know what you’re doing.”

Usually he was good at reading people. This guy was…stranger than he was used to. It was tough to pin down exactly what he was trying to accomplish.

“Yeah, well…” Sergio shrugged, more grateful than he’d expected when they got to the door. “I can tell you this is Spanish. That’s all you need for the moment.”

Kyle glanced up at the sign and did a quick survey of the area as if giving himself landmarks. The grin was still firmly in place when he looked back. “Well, I’ll be sure to look you up if I need directions or somethin’. Thanks for the help, Serge.”

It took Sergio a few moments before he managed to get himself to follow the guy into class, because _what the hell, did he just_ wink _at me?_


End file.
